So many of you guys around here besmirched Josh Howard’s hard work yesterday by blasting our Movie Poster article with “How could you forget The Namesake’s birthday?” quotes and the like. And you know what? We deserved it. There’s a crew of 5 of us (and one Arizona miner) here and NOBODY remembered to wish The Namesake a Happy Birthday.

He has given us so much and we didn’t even celebrate the day in which the hockey gods delivered us a little blonde speedster who would one day grow up to be the inspiration for a hack Detroit Red Wings blog. Darren Helm turned a quarter of a century yesterday. He’ll be a Red Wing for life…which means we could see another 15 years of #43 in a Winged Wheel. He’s the gift that keeps on giving

What exactly has he given us?

Make the jump to see for yourself.

How about a game winner in the play-offs? (no…not that one…not yet)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=

YETQVhP-Zqo&feature=fvst[/youtube]

He beat one of the greatest goalies to ever play the game:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=

vi-ml2RpVD8[/youtube]

And killing penalties? He can do that (no…not that one…patience, precious)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=

udYj3wUwFgY[/youtube]

We all know that his hands aren’t even his strong suit…he’s starting to gain recognition as being pretty strong on his skates:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=

rWi0NJxjTJc[/youtube]

I call that last one “Turning Over a New Leaf”….**cough cough**…sorry.

Here he is laying bodies out and feeding his teammates:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=

vxTl80skOJw[/youtube]

In this one, he reminds a flightless bird that he belongs on the ground:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=

JkQiwg7Odl4[/youtube]

Letting Jovo go all “crime boss” after a clean hit (was called a penalty)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=

DzPe8tOSm8I[/youtube]

He gave his birthday buddy a shot too…

http://youtube.com/watch?v=

DhouIGOtP1Y[/youtube]

Here’s a some more thrashing of Nashville…

http://youtube.com/watch?v=

2FVqi7BZGsw[/youtube]

A short handed goal? How about my favorite of all time?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=

scVutse_U2c[/youtube]

But…as well all know…you don’t have to score to destroy your opponents on the PK:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=

HSr1i4AUnYA[/youtube]

But if you feel like scoring AND destroying your opponents utterly…he can do that too.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=

O8avxboSrn4[/youtube]

So I’d like to close this out by saying thanks to The Namesake for the memories (so far) and give you big, belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY…sorry that it’s late.